During the 18th century, the Enlightenment culminated in the French and American revolutions. Philosophy and science increased in prominence. Philosophers dreamed of a brighter age. This dream turned into a reality with the French Revolution, although it was later compromised by the excesses of the Reign of Terror of Maximilien Robespierre. At first, the monarchies of Europe embraced Enlightenment ideals, but with the French Revolution they feared losing their power and formed broad coalitions for the counter-revolution.

The Ottoman Empire underwent a protracted decline, as it failed to keep up with the technological advances in Europe. The Tulip period symbolized a period of peace and reorientation towards European society, after victory against a burgeoning Russian Empire in the Pruth River Campaign. Throughout the century various reforms were introduced with limited success.

The 18th century also marked the end of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth as an independent state. The once powerful and vast kingdom, that was once able to conquer Moscow and defeat the great Ottoman armies, collapsed under numerous invasions. Its semi-democratic government system was not robust enough to rival the neighbouring monarchies of the Kingdom of Prussia, the Russian Empire and the Archduchy of Austria which divided the Commonwealth territories among them, changing the landscape of Central European politics for the next hundred years.

Western historians have occasionally defined the 18th century otherwise for the purposes of their work. For example, the "short" 18th century may be defined as 1715–1789, denoting the period of time between the death of Louis XIV of France and the start of the French Revolution with an emphasis on directly interconnected events.[1][2] To historians who expand the century to include larger historical movements, the "long" 18th century[3] may run from the Glorious Revolution of 1688 to the Battle of Waterloo in 1815[4] or even later.[5]

1755–1763: The Great Upheaval, forced population transfer of the French Acadian population from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick

1755: 13 February, The Treaty of Giyanti is signed, effectively partitioning the Mataram Sultanate. The VOC recognizes Mangkubumi as Sultan Hamengkubuwana I, who rules half of Central Java. Hamengkubuwana I then established Yogyakarta Sultanate, moves to Yogya and renames the city Yogyakarta[20]

^Marshall, P. J. (Editor) (2001). The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II: The Eighteenth Century (Oxford History of the British Empire). Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN978-0-19-924677-9. OCLC174866045., "Introduction" by P. J. Marshall, page 1

^O'Gorman, Frank (1997). The Long Eighteenth Century: British Political and Social History 1688-1832 (The Arnold History of Britain Series). A Hodder Arnold Publication. ISBN978-0-340-56751-7. OCLC243883533.

^Porter, Roy (Editor) (2003). The Cambridge History of Science, Volume 4: The Eighteenth Century (The Cambridge History of Science). Cambridge University Press. ISBN978-0-521-57243-9. OCLC123123201., "The Philosopher's Beard: Women and Gender in Science" by Londra Schiebinger, pages 184–210